Though U.S. markets were closed on Monday, overseas trading gave an indication of how investors might react to Steve Jobs' absence from Apple come Tuesday. In addition, analysts on Wall Street offered their take on the news.

AAPL takes a hit overseas

U.S. markets were closed on Monday in recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. But AAPL stock was still traded in Europe, where the news of Jobs' leave of absence had a significant impact.

At one point on Monday, Apple stock was down nearly 10 percent in Frankfurt, Germany, for European trading. It closed the day down 6.2 percent, to finish at 244.05.

U.S. markets, including the NASDAQ, where AAPL is traded, will open at their regular time of 9:30 a.m. eastern on Tuesday. It will likely be a busy day of trading for the company's stock, as Apple is also expected to report record sales in its quarterly earnings report after the market closes on Tuesday.

RBC Capital Markets

Analyst Mike Abramsky said he expects AAPL stock to be volatile in the near future, but also buoyed by the strong expected quarter for the start of fiscal 2011. He noted that Apple and Jobs' decision not to reveal the CEO's condition could "sustain uncertainty."

But he said investors may also focus on the fact that Jobs has twice already successfully returned from health absences. In addition, he believes Apple has a strong management team with Tim Cook as the operational leader.

He also noted that when Jobs last left in 2009, the stock dropped 3 percent, but over the next six months it rose 57 percent until Jobs returned in June. Abramsky said that Jobs is Apple's biggest asset, but also the company's biggest risk.

"It will be difficult to assess how the absence of Steve's drive, innovation and leadership -- and his high level of involvement -- may or may not have a negative impact in the longer term on Apple innovation and talent retention," he said. "After handwringing, street and media reaction are likely to assume the stance for now that Apple can cary on."

Piper Jaffray

Analyst Gene Munster noted that, unlike Jobs' departure in 2009, he announced on Monday that he is not relinquishing his title as chief executive officer. That could be an indication, he said, that Jobs expects his leave of absence to be shorter and less serious than his previous departure.

"Recall that during Jobs' last medical leave (Jan-09 to Jun-09) Cook became interim CEO of Apple and the business continued to perform well," Munster wrote.

Piper Jaffray has retained its "overweight" rating for AAPL stock, as well as its 12-month price target of $438.

Yep... reading all the media hounds right now think doom and gloom is on the horizon.

Everyone I think will agree (trolls included) that if anything, Steve Jobs was about as detail-oriented to the nth degree, perhaps even maybe borderline OCD in his involvement with everything.

That to me would also include have planned to the same attention-to-detail a succession plan in terms of management. He will probably have it planned as to what Tim Cook should wear on a Friday, eight months from now.

Folks with no stomach will no doubt panic-sell. I for one will do exactly what I've been doing after AAPL takes a hit like this. Hold on to what I currently have, and buy cheap again. That has paid off handsomely for me for a long time.

Apple is in a ridiculously good position right now. They're sitting on a mountain of cash, they have great products right now, and more coming, SJ will still continue to run shop, just from a quieter corner. I have complete faith is what's going on at Apple.

Get better Steve. I look forward to you b***h-slapping all the naysayers when you get better.

When prices go wacky (read LOW) it is the time to jump in and make some good moola. AAPL will rebound from whatever it drops to plus more. If heads remain calm (except for those that are almost always naysayers) the stock should do well since Apple will be reporting on a great quarter. I guess the only thing that could throw a (short term) wrench in the works is the wording of the report (e.g., not enough supplies to meet our needs so are forecasting n/2 sales instead of n). Not expecting bad stuff but the analysts sometimes read the tea leaves different than the rest of us.

I suggest you wait for the early drop and buy and then if it drops again buy bigger.

Folks with no stomach will no doubt panic-sell. I for one will do exactly what I've been doing after AAPL takes a hit like this. Hold on to what I currently have, and buy cheap again. That has paid off handsomely for me for a long time.

Apple is in a ridiculously good position right now. They're sitting on a mountain of cash, they have great products right now, and more coming, SJ will still continue to run shop, just from a quieter corner. I have complete faith is what's going on at Apple..

Since you have a nice profit in AAPL and you believe in their future performance, you should sell on open and buy it back near the end of the day or when it is down 10%, because we know it isn't going up tomorrow.

Last Jobs actually handed the reigns to someone for 6 months the stock value, revenue and profit kept growing. I expect any investor foolishness to be short lived.

Totally different scenario. The last time no one knew what he had or how severe it was.
This time it's coming after a liver transplant, known pancreatic cancer, and an obvious physical deterioration. Sadly.

Totally different scenario. The last time no one knew what he had or how severe it was.
This time it's coming after a liver transplant, known pancreatic cancer, and an obvious physical deterioration. Sadly.

This is not a "totally different scenario." The last time he did this, people knew that he had had neuroendocrine cell pancreatic cancer. And he had also had "an obvious physical deterioration." People had been wondering about it being a recurrence of his cancer for months before he went on leave last time.

The company did not implode the last time he did this and the company will not implode this time either.

This is not a "totally different scenario." The last time he did this, people knew that he had had neuroendocrine cell pancreatic cancer. And he had also had "an obvious physical deterioration." People had been wondering about it being a recurrence of his cancer for months before he went on leave last time.

The company did not implode the last time he did this and the company will not implode this time either.

Agreed. It's bad on a personal level, but the company is well set to benefit from his and Apple's planning for many years.

This is not a "totally different scenario." The last time he did this, people knew that he had had neuroendocrine cell pancreatic cancer. And he had also had "an obvious physical deterioration." People had been wondering about it being a recurrence of his cancer for months before he went on leave last time.

The company did not implode the last time he did this and the company will not implode this time either.

Not to mention that he needed a liver and there were no guarantee that he would ever get a donor. The fact that he’s not leaving as CEO should tell all but the Chicken Little’s that this isn’t much to be concerned with. I’m heavily invested in AAPL and I don’t fear my longterm investments with the company.

PS: Why is someone with a purposely insulting name and a previously banned troll, many times over not being flagged by the mods. I think most of the mods aren’t posting here that much anymore. I see Auto Trader has been making more than few spam accounts. Perhaps AI needs to recruit some more people.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

This is not a "totally different scenario." The last time he did this, people knew that he had had neuroendocrine cell pancreatic cancer. And he had also had "an obvious physical deterioration." People had been wondering about it being a recurrence of his cancer for months before he went on leave last time.

The company did not implode the last time he did this and the company will not implode this time either.

Beyond media hype this chart tells the story from a different angle. Steve's health had little inpact on stock.

Suck it up and buy.

As much as I want everything to turn out tempered for the stock, AAPL actually dropped more like 40% from his 'gaunt appearance' at WWDC '08 to announcing his leave in 2009. The multiple erosion since then is tied in many ways to concern over Steve's health, succession plans, and how much the man makes the company.

From where I sit, the stock should get a 10% haircut to the multiple, which should have it net out up slightly by Wednesday.

If it is down near 310 tomorrow, I am a buyer. In expectation of this quarter I am already pretty overweight in AAPL.

Seems like a good opportunity to hang fire, let the market massively overreact, then buy some stock.

The fact that Jobs has health issues is well known within Apple and actually puts them in a safer position than a lot of other companies - at least they know this might happen, and they will have planned how to deal with it.

I suspect the stock will suffer for a few days, then the market will realise that all that profit doesn't come from just one man, and it will rebound strongly.

As much as I want everything to turn out tempered for the stock, AAPL actually dropped more like 40% from his 'gaunt appearance' at WWDC '08 to announcing his leave in 2009. The multiple erosion since then is tied in many ways to concern over Steve's health, succession plans, and how much the man makes the company.

Last time I checked, correlation doesn't imply causation. From June 2008 (WWDC) to Jan 2009 (Jobs' departure), yes AAPL went down 55%. Funny thing is, so did the DOW and Nasdaq. Ever hear of a recession?

Okay, so if everyone thinks it's going to drop and buy on the dip, the perhaps it won't actually drop. I guess it depends on the number of those looking to sell then buy back vs. those who will hold and buy more. I'm looking to pick up a few more shares, but won't sell off my current holdings (started buying up at $50) on the chance that I can get it back later. I'm not that good at the game.

Since you have a nice profit in AAPL and you believe in their future performance, you should sell on open and buy it back near the end of the day or when it is down 10%, because we know it isn't going up tomorrow.

The stock will no doubt be down on the very first trade, and quite probably be its low for the day. Of course, my guess is just as good as yours. So let's see.

Of all days to buy or sell, tomorrow would be a prime candidate for holding what you've got and buying what you can.